TMA: No docs being sent into Louisiana

Just got this from the Texas Medical Association This color is my emphasis:

Deployment Status:   TMA has not received an
official notice to deploy volunteers to Louisiana. We appreciate your
willingness to help and ask for your patience at this time. If you have
contacted TMA to volunteer, you are in our volunteer database. You will be
contacted as soon as we are notified. (See Next Steps.)

Overwhelming Response:   Wednesday, Aug. 31,
Gov. Rick Perry asked the Texas Medical Association to solicit 200 physician
volunteers to assist Louisiana with their medical needs. As a result of that
request, TMA has received more than 1,500 responses from physicians, residents,
and medical student volunteers. And more calls are coming in by the minute.

Our initial announcement requesting volunteers was stated
exactly as provided to us by the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management.
That notice listed only six specific specialties. However, TMA sent a notice to
all specialties in our e-mail database. We anticipated additional skills and
expertise would be needed. The response from our physician members has been
overwhelming and heartwarming. The rescue shelters established in Texas? major
cities are in desperate need of primary care physicians.

Next Steps:   The State Operations Center has
been told that additional physicians (except for mental health professionals)
are not needed in Louisiana. Hospitals in New Orleans have been evacuated.
Physicians displaced from New Orleans are being dispersed throughout the state
and are helping with immediate relief efforts. State and federal officials will
not deploy any volunteers into Louisiana until your safety can be guaranteed…

From what I’ve seen on TV this makes the most sense: with no infrastructure there’s no need to add to the disaster.  Let’s evacuate everyone out of the area and fix the problems out of the disaster zone.